g body!'

The poor little devil stammered something, and escaped.

The children were sent by turns over to Wall's to Sunday-school. When
Tommy was at home he had a new pair of elastic-side boots, and there was
no end of rows about them in the family--for the mother made him lend
them to his sister Annie, to go to Sunday-school in, in her turn. There
were only about three pairs of anyway decent boots in the family, and
these were saved for great occasions. The children were always as clean
and tidy as possible when they came to our place.

And I think the saddest and most pathetic sight on the face of God's
earth is the children of very poor people made to appear well: the
broken worn-out boots polished or greased, the blackened (inked) pieces
of string for laces; the clean patched pinafores over the wretched
threadbare frocks. Behind the little row of children hand-in-hand--and
no matter where they are--I always see the worn face of the mother.

Towards the end of the first year on the selection our little girl came.
I'd sent Mary to Gulgong for four months that time, and when she came
back with the baby Mrs Spicer used to come up pretty often. She came up
several times when Mary was ill, to lend a hand. She wouldn't sit down
and condole with Mary, or waste her time asking questions, or talking
about the time when she was ill herself. She'd take off her hat--a
shapeless little lump of black straw she wore for visiting--give
her hair a quick brush back with the palms of her hands, roll up her
sleeves, and set to work to 'tidy up'. She seemed to take most pleasure
in sorting out our children's clothes, and dressing them. Perhaps she
used to dress her own like that in the days when Spicer was a different
man from what he was now. She seemed interested in the fashion-plates
of some women's journals we had, and used to study them with an interest
that puzzled me, for she was not likely to go in for fashion. She never
talked of her early girlhood; but Mary, from some things she noticed,
was inclined to think that Mrs Spicer had been fairly well brought up.
For instance, Dr Balanfantie, from Cudgeegong, came out to see Wall's
wife, and drove up the creek to our place on his way back to see how
Mary and the baby were getting on. Mary got out some crockery and some
table-napkins that she had packed away for occasions like this; and
she said that the way Mrs Spicer handled the things, and helped set the
table (though she did i